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Ride or Die Gang Member Sentenced on Firearm and Drug Violations

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that MORRIS SUMMERS, age 25, aresident of New Orleans, was sentenced today after having previously pled guilty to federal firearm and drug violations.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan sentenced SUMMERS to 60 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release.

SUMMERS was one of twelve defendants charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine base in the St. Roch neighborhood. In addition, all twelve defendants were charged with conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking crimes. Three defendants were also charged with conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act, as well as substantive acts of violence.

To date, nine defendants charged in this case have pled guilty to various charges and have been sentenced. Co-defendant ANDREALIE LEWIS was previously sentenced to 48 months incarceration; TYONE BURTON was previously sentenced to 121 months of incarceration; ERVIN SPOONER was previously sentenced to 108 months of incarceration; PERRY WILSON was previously sentenced to 108 months of incarceration; TRE CLEMENTS was previously sentenced to 96 months of incarceration; NYSON JONESwas previously sentenced to 87 months of incarceration; ROMALIS PARKER was previously sentenced to 70 months of incarceration; and TYRONE BURTON was previously sentenced to 60 months of incarceration. Three defendants were convicted following trial and are awaiting sentencing: DELOYD JONES, a/k/a “Puggy,” age 23; BYRON JONES, a/k/a/ “Big Baby,” age 25; and SIDNEY PATTERSON, a/k/a “Duda Man,” age 24.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the above-stated trial, the defendants were members and associates of the “Ride or Die” gang, which they also referred to as “R.O.D.” The Ride or Die gang was initially formed in or about 2007 and continued to exist through in or about 2013. During the course of the federal investigation into the gang, agents learned that the defendants used a house, located at 1632 Mandeville Street, among other locations, as a base of operations to package, sell, and store narcotics, as well as store firearms.

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as part of the metro area’s Multi-Agency Gang Unit (MAG) in investigating this matter. As an integral component of NOLA FOR LIFE’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy, the MAG Unit consists of a partnership with New Orleans Police Department (NOPD); Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office (DA); Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO); Louisiana State Police (LSP); Parole Board of the Louisiana Department of Corrections; United States Attorney’s Office (USAO); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); United States Marshal’s Service (USMS); and the United States Probation & Parole Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Assistant United States Attorneys Nolan D. Paige and Marquest Meeks, along with former Special Assistant United States Attorney Brian Ebarb, who was assigned from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, were responsible for the prosecution.